Arizona Cardinals Hire Kliff Kingsbury As Head Coach

The Arizona Cardinals have kicked off the new year with a new coach. The Cardinals have official hired former Texas Tech head coach Kliff Kingsbury to become the franchise’s next head coach.

In November, the 39-year-old Kingsbury was fired from the head coach position at Texas Tech following a six-year stint and a 35-40 record. Prior to his tenure with the Red Raiders, Kingsbury served at Houston and Texas A&M as the offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach, under current Arizona Wildcats head coach Kevin Sumlin. Kingsbury has never coached in the NFL.

Having played the quarterback position at Texas Tech and seen time under center for the Jets, Patriots and Saints, he also played in the Canadian Football League and the now-defunct NFL Europe.

In early December, Kingsbury was named USC’s new offensive coordinator and then was prohibited from interviewing for NFL head coach openings by USC athletic director Lynn Swann. On Monday, Kingsbury interviewed with the New York Jets.

While at Texas Tech, Kingsbury built one of the most prolific offenses in college football. He coached quarterback Patrick Mahomes, who threw an NFL-best 50 passing touchdowns for the Kansas City Chiefs during the 2018 regular season and is the favorite to win the 2018 NFL MVP award. The Red Raiders have been in the top 20 in total offense in each of the last four seasons, including No. 1 overall in 2016.

On Dec. 31, the Cardinals fired Steve Wilks after just one season as the head coach. In 2018, the Cardinals posted an NFL-worst 3-13 record, which matched their worst finish in 31 seasons in Arizona.

It was also reported that the Cardinals also interviewed former Miami Dolphins head coach Adam Gase, former Detroit Lions head coach Jim Caldwell, Los Angeles Rams quarterbacks coach Zac Taylor and New Orleans Saints assistant head coach Dan Campbell for the head coaching position.